It’s another Thursday, and I’m back on the air with Mark Starling, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s hot and fresh tech news: UK anti-trust regulator forces Facebook to sell Giphy, Uber announces in car ad delivery, and hearing aids available over-the-counter. You can listen to me and Mark Starling point and laugh at all things tech every Thursday at 643 am ET live on the radio or the iHeartRadio app.
UK COMPETITION WATCHDOG FORCES META TO SELL GIPHY
A couple things. One, I’m still not used to calling Facebook, Meta. I can’t put my finger on why, but I don’t like it. Two, how is it that sites like Giphy make money? Anyway, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, has ruled against Facebook’s, I mean; Meta’s, appeal and has forced them to sell the animated gif search engine. Giphy is used by social networking app users to find animated gifs to express themselves in messages. Facebook bought the company in 2020. Facebook was also fined 50.5 million pounds for not cooperating with the UK regulator. Now, it looks like they’re forced to sell. Meta/Facebook says they are disappointed with the ruling, but will comply.
UBER TO INTERRUPT CONVERSATIONS WITH DRIVERS WITH JOURNEY ADS
Yesterday, Uber introduced Journey Ads, its version of TaxiTV. Yeah, instead of falling asleep in your Uber (I’ve done that), or having a rich conversation with your driver, Uber wants to annoy you with ads featured from one of 40 brands its partnered with. Uber will be installing tablets in selected Uber driver’s vehicles and pushing ad content to riders. Journey Ads will feature promotions from NBC, United Artists and others. The company is searching for a new revenue stream as it posted a $382 million positive cash flow in the previous quarter.
OVER-THE-COUNTER HEARING AIDS AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME
Like insulin, hearing aid technology is old, stable, and repeatable. And very expensive. Until now. Hearing aids are now available, over-the-counter, for the first time. Hearing aids that once cost a thousand dollars or more for prescription can be bought for $199 at Wal-Mart. It’s taken years to get here. The advent of BlueTooth headsets and 2017 legislation making hearing aids for moderate hearing loss widely available have significantly helped consumers. Walgreens is selling hearing aids for $799 when they used to call $3,000 and $4,000. For the MTV and booming system generation this is a watershed event.
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